Work At Home Link Building using Google Alerts

One of the key components to any successful website is the number and quality of their inbound links.

There are many ways in which you can attract links to your site. Some good, some not so good!

One strategy that I have been using very successfully is to combine article writing with Google Alerts.

Here’s how it is done.

Step One: Write some articles.

Start writing articles and ideally make sure they are related in some way to your business.

I suggest you prepare at least a couple of articles and I would avoid writing them in Microsoft Word. Try to use something like Notepad. I’ll explain why in a minute.

When you have a couple of articles of about 400 to 700 words each, you should then submit them to the article submission sites.

Article submission sites are great for getting your articles distributed around the web. Not only do these sites send articles onto other article distribution networks, but lots of website owners come to these sites for content to put onto their own websites.

When you submit your article to one of the submission sites, you are allowed to add an “About the Author” paragraph to go with your article. It is here that you put a link back to your website using whatever keyword phrase you are trying to optimise on.

As you already have your article written you can simply cut and paste the article into the submission forms. I tend to have an “About the Author” paragraph already prepared to cut & paste as well.

Now the reason I suggested using Notepad for your articles is because when you copy from Word it tends to bring with it certain formatting issues and these can cause you article to be rejected by the submission sites. Notepad doesn’t have this problem.

Step Two: Find out who’s using your article.

By using Google Alerts you can set up alerts for each of your articles. I tend to use the article name is it’s fairly unique. Otherwise try using a distinctive line from your article.

Whenever Google finds your article, it sends you an email with the web address of the site where it found it.

You can now check out this site. If you think it will give you good traffic or pass on good page rank, you can contact the website owner. As they already have one of your articles then they probably like your material so you can either offer more articles (with links of course!) or even point them to pages on your site that they should link to because the content would be of interest to their visitors.

So there you have it. One of my tips for building links back to your site.

By the way, you might just like to put your website name into Google Alerts as you’ll be surprised how many alerts that can generate and you can also find many places mentioning your website.

Vernon Riley is a founder of KKSmarts. Their site contains many free guides covering all aspects of Website Promotion including free SEO Training.

When you are looking for instant gratification for your website, there is a type of advertising package that gets you excited. It offers instant legitimate traffic to your site. Will you pass it up?

It looks excellent and seems almost fool proof. You have probably heard of it, redirected web traffic from expired domains. The concept is simple and seems innocent enough when looking at it. A company buys expired domains with existing links, search engine listings, and a loyal following of Internet surfers that some webmaster just gave up on or couldn’t afford to run anymore.

You have been dying to get more sales from your website and you see a company has purchased thousands of expired domains with actual traffic still pouring in to them, or at least that is what they say. I am not going to say their necessarily lying, but I will say it is important to read this before you continue on with a decision of purchasing this traffic.

The catch line usually is that the domains registered with this traffic seller are all sectioned into industry categories of relevance that you can rent, making it highly targeted traffic to boot. So your getting into your wallet ready to spend a hundred dollars or less for thousands of eager online shoppers for your product. You see your site fits a category that you know you can entice visitors to buy from or at least get some AdSense clicks from … STOP!

Right off the bat I will tell you, if you value your AdSense account at all, this method of promotion can destroy your reputation with Google AdSense. How can it destroy your AdSense account and how does AdSense even relate to the domain traffic to your site? Sit tight and I will get to that subject as soon as we get finish the subject of redirected domains.

A redirected domain is just as you would think. You pay for temporary placement on multiple domains that have traffic generated to them. Pay close attention to the word I just mentioned, generated. Many of these companies, if not all will say their bought domains have legitimate traffic coming to them through searches, natural browser requests, etc. however you might find that almost all of this traffic is coming from one major source.

What would this source be? You won’t like to hear it, but you might as well know, it comes from traffic exchanges. Traffic exchanges are not the advisable method to generate sales for any site other than maybe an MLM, traffic exchange, or marketing site. This is due to the fact that traffic is generated by other users trying to generate traffic to their sites as well. Most sites are ignored in an attempt to rack up points for views to their site.

Another method is having your site pop-under or pop-up when visiting a specified URL. While this method of traffic generation can work for some sites with good landing pages, not all redirected domain traffic companies play by the rules and to cloak a pop-up or pop-under from a user they can modify the opening browser window to be the size of a mere dot that a user would never be aware of. This of course would count as a visit to your site.

This has been discovered on more than one occasion as I myself tried to capitalize on additional low cost advertising methods and while being ineffective they can be harmful especially to an AdSense account.

If you read Google’s TOS you will specifically see traffic exchanges and pop-under/pop-up forbidden for any landing page with Google AdSense code on it. You break these rules you may face a warning, but at times many have faced the penalty of termination. Knowing the risks involved with this type of advertising you are best to keep your site and your AdSense account as far away from these companies as possible.

If the sound of redirected domain traffic does appeal to you, the only way to guarantee yourself the traffic is legitimate is to order expired domains yourself. There are membership based sites dedicated solely to finding these types of domains in your niche and you just pay for the domain and forwarding service aside from the membership fee.

If you plan to test any method of new advertising that you are not 100% sure about always make sure to create a landing page without your Google AdSense code. You never know when you will be told lies over the Internet. Take this precaution and you will save your coveted AdSense account from termination.

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Getting Started. To get started on your radio press release, think about who you will be pitching your show to. Ultimately your show is being pitched to radio hosts and producers who are inundated with press releases and phone calls every day. They are looking for the hottest show ideas that their listeners will enjoy.

So, come up with a show idea. Think about how you can tie your product and message to something that a producer or host would deem newsworthy. Think outside the box a bit…some of the best radio show ideas live there!

Now that you have your show idea there is something else to consider: why should they listen to me and not the countless other people who seemingly know more than me on the subject? Radio shows need expert, not guests sharing unqualified opinions. Remember, they can just as easily get these opinions by taking calls from their listeners.

You are an expert and you don’t even know it! Think about it: who knows your product and message better than you do? You can probably talk about your product with more knowledge and enthusiasm than anyone else out there. Later you’ll learn the press release tricks to position yourself as an expert.

Now you not only have a show idea, but you are an expert! Well done! Now it is time to start working on the release. Throughout this process do not forget the following vital piece of information: THE PRESS RELEASE IS YOUR TOOL TO GET BOOKED ON RADIO SHOWS!

The Five Pieces of the Press Release Puzzle The following are the important components of a radio press release which will make your show idea come to life for producers and hosts, as well as position you ahead of the pack.

1. Headline! Headline? HEADLINE!!! Arguably the most important aspect of your press release, headlines are so vital that there are entire books written and seminars taught on how to construct the most effective ones. Now, don’t let this scare you. Writing a killer headline is definitely a skill that can be developed; all you need is a clear and concise overview of your topic. Write down your show idea and look it over. Now look it over again.

What is your key message? Is your show idea newsworthy? Are there any well-known people that you can tie into your topic? Do you have any impressive statistics that are relevant? Is there anything controversial that ties directly into your subject? The answers to these questions will help you develop a headline which is ready for increased pick-up by producers and hosts.

Your headline must communicate the topic of the show instantly in an eye-catching way. It should not be longer than 1 sentence and will act as THE sound bite on your topic. Now that’s a lot of weight to put on a single sentence!

Sometimes to alleviate the weight of the headline, you may need a sub-head to support it. If your headline gives just a taste of your show topic, then a sub-head is useful to explain it further. When someone reads the headline and sub-head together it should immediately click what the concept of the show is. Do this correctly and you will definitely grab some attention!

2. Discussion Topic. This is your chance to present a concise summary of your show topic. It should continue naturally from the headline to further expand the topic. The headline gets the attention and the discussion topic gives the reader more.

The length should be two sentences, tops. This forces you to present (and think about) your topic in a concise manner. Again try to tie your topic to current events, celebrity, or controversy! Don’t be worried about repeating yourself in the different sections of the press release. After all, you want to get a cohesive point across! (A great tip: try writing the Topic Summary and Headline together. It is a great way to save time!)

3. Talking Points/Questions. These are an absolute must for talk radio as they are the shaping tools that guide the host through your topic. Funnily enough, most times the host will read directly off of the press release during the interview. This not only makes them look knowledgeable, but it saves them heaps of time! So why not have them read YOUR words?!

Yet again you will need to tie in current events and any controversy that will stir interest (are you tired of hearing this yet?). Generally it is good to give no more than 10 of these conversation shapers. If you do get your show picked up, the interviews generally last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes…so concise is a word that you should familiarize yourself with right now!

Remember: the more interesting the questions - the more interesting the interview!

4. Topic Overview. This is where the traditional press release that you may have seen before resurfaces. The reason it only appears now is because in radio you need to grab their attention quickly, something that the topic overview doesn’t. Keep in mind that you are pitching your show topic to inundated radio producers and hosts whose time is very limited. With hundreds of releases hitting their inbox, the more eye-catching and relevant your headline is, the more they will read on.

Once you have gained their attention with your eye-catching headline, topic summary and talking points it is time to present the full show idea. This is your opportunity to fully flesh out your topic to position you as an expert on the topic you are discussing. Do not write a sales piece here - write your show! Work your name, personal quotes and product name into the summary. Liberally use the following to build your topic and profile: statistics, testimonials, current news facts, professional title (which is real and honest). Use anything that will interest the producer, host and in effect THEIR AUDIENCE! Try to limit this to a page maximum, with an ideal range to be 4-6 paragraphs with around 4 sentences max in each one.

5. Biography. Now this is the one element that people tend to forget, underplay or overplay. THIS IS ABOUT YOU! This is your chance to position yourself as the expert you are in order for your show idea to be picked up, with you in the driver’s seat. Use your qualifications, education, career, relationships, memberships, travel history, how many dogs you have….etc. Basically use anything that can help qualify you as an expert on the topic. If you are writing about religion, anything that you do in your life that pertains to religion is applicable and increases your plausibility as an expert on that topic.

A word of warning though: don’t sensationalize yourself. By doing this you will immediately turn-off producers and hosts. Instead, effectively communicate your achievements and expertise on the topic that you are presenting. Simply rehashing your resume with bullet-points is an absolute “no-no”.

Don’t Forget! * The goal of a radio press release is to market you, the expert, and your topic to radio producers and hosts in order to get booked as a guest on their shows. All of the sections of the release should support each other and come together to present a clear view of your show topic. The best way to get someone to hit the delete button on your press release is by presenting them with a disjointed release that does not clearly present the topic or explain why you are an expert on the topic.

* Be concise at all times. If your release is “top-heavy” it will be dumped almost immediately, most times without even a glance. Make sure that the Headline and Topic Summary sections are top-notch, tight and straight to the point. With radio you have the freedom to be slightly more sensational than with print. By having an eye-catching headline and topic summary you will grab attention, and the rest of the release will feed it. Don’t just go for eye-catching statements if they do not communicate your topic. Be clear and get your idea across as best as you can.

* And guess what? All of this hard work means nothing if your show topic is flat. Put lots of thought into your show idea. Think about topics that will appeal to the masses rather than a small niche market. The broader the appeal and the more timely the subject matter, the more interesting you are to radio producers and hosts.

The radio press release is the best marketing tool to get you onto talk radio shows so you can publicize yourself and your product. If you take your time developing your topic and put lots of thought into developing your press release you can almost guarantee that radio stations nationwide will start biting! So get writing!

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (). If you would like to receive her free Electronic book “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.